Turning a page

 

If you are here it is likely because our homepage banner said something about us having nothing left to sell you. For the TLDR (scroll down) That is true to a point, there are still a few things left, but let me elaborate. Some of you may remember the "NEEDS Factory" days - for those of you who don't, that was our original brand name and was based on our facility and design philosophy "all you need, nothing, more nothing less". Needs Factory was created to supply a need for simple gear that worked, fit well, and looked sweet.

NF Factory Store
NF Factory Store 2019-2021

 

We found that everything available at the time was over designed, unnecessarily complex - which added production costs, and at the same time those extra bells and whistles were failure points. This was a very common thread amongst brands producing off-shore, likely in the same factories, using the same methods. In some cases(most cases) the sample makers in those factories are the people who come up with the product design which is sent off for approval by a product manager of said brand. MTB products designed and developed by people who don't ride are not good.

Is it all starting to make sense now? We started seeing a lot of success because we made products people wanted but didn't have access to previously. As a result we started to get a lot of attention from all kinds of people, including lawyers.

The reason for this story is because a lot of you reading this didn't know where "NF" came from. You know the first part of the story where I told you why we used to call our facility "the needs factory" and the product we produced in our factory was branded "NEEDS Factory"? But why are we called "NF" now and the words "NEEDS Factory" are nowhere to be seen?  
TRADEMARKS (and lawyers). 

We were legally forced to stop using the name NEEDS Factory by a big US online fashion retailer who shut down their business around a year after we changed our name. This is how NF came to be. Yes if you haven't figured it out by now NF is an abbreviation for Needs Factory.

Remember the Destroyer Pant? now you know what the DP stands for in our top selling MTB pant - we can thank lawyers for that abbreviation as well.  

NF Destroyer Banner ft. Jay Boysen - 2019

If I still have your attention thank you so much. Let's discuss the real reason you are here. Why we have no product left. Here is the answer: Because we were hit again by another team of lawyers representing a major motorsports organization who didn't like our "F" and politely asked us to change it. We spent a lot of time and effort building power into our current logo and sadly that logo will be discontinued on all future products and labels  - we have a couple runs in production now using the current logo but that has tapered from a river to a trickle, and by the end of the year that logo and all products containing it be wiped clean from our website and social media channels completely.  Some of you may have noticed some of our riders sporting the new version of our logo, you may have also seen or purchased a Quikstrike (no. 65 and no. 72) donning this new logo. 

We did manage to negotiate one term; to let us keep our Quikstrike "museum" on our website as long as we don't produce and sell another product with our current logo.
Quikstrike No. 65, No. 72 shown

TLDR; The reason we are out of product is because we needed to move all inventory containing our current logo for legal purposes(get it while ya can!), and it will take us a little while to restock with product containing our new, improved, updated, litigation-proof, super sick logo. which you can see here. 

 Spoiler, there will also be some all-new products released at the same time, such as the DP5 and some exciting new crossover products that your less mountain bikey friends can also enjoy! 

Thank you all so much for your support over the years. The future is nebulous, but it always has been and we are extremely excited to flip the page and keep fighting! 

 

Love, Respect, and Huge Appreciation,

Travis Bothner
aka "Trav" aka "Travis The Tailor" - Founder/Designer/Guy who comes up with the products, the names, and makes the logos etc...


3 comments


  • James Roscoe

    That’s too bad! Your logo had become iconic for those who know! Ah well, adapt and all that. The most important thing is your bomber product! I’ll be riding in my DP3s and Invader 3s representing the old logo for years to come.


  • Rob

    Just read this after the clearout sale came up. Bugger!! But from us Aussie fans, onwards and upwards! You guys rock and we LOVE riding in or NF gear!


  • Matt

    The new logo looks better than ever
    Looking forward to flying the new nf flag….


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